Electrical door-releasing device.



PATENTED JAN. 3, 1905.

' P. M. EDMONDS. ELECTRICAL DOOR RELEASING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 27, 1903.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

No. 778,958. PATENTBD JAN. 3, 1905.

F. M. EDMONDS.

ELECTRICAL DOOR RBLEASING DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 27, 1903.

- 2 SHHETSBHEET 2.

UNITED STATES I Patented January 3, 1905.

PATENT OEETCE.

FRANK M. EDMONDS, OF HOLYOKE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE COBURN TROLLEY TRACK MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF HOLYOKE, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION.

ELECTRICAL DOOR-RELEASING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 778,958, dated January 3, 1905.

Application filed March 27, 1903. Serial No. 149,912.

To (tZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it knownthat I, FRANK M. EDMoNDs, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Holyoke, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Electrical Door- Releasing Devices, of which the following is a specification. v

This invention relates to self-closing fire- 1o doors supported on an inclined track and held normally open by means of a cord or other flexible connection to one end of which is attached aweight, a bar or link of fusible metal forming part of said connection and located in such position that it will be exposed in the doorway in the partition.

The object of this invention is to provide electrically-actuated devices cooperating with said door-restraining means whereby a door or a number of doors simultaneously may be released from the restraining action of said weight by the closing of an electrical circuit operated at any point in the building.

It is admitted that it is not broadly new to 5 use electrically-operated releasing devices for purposes similar to those recited herein; and this invention consists in the novel devices described in the following specification and pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings forming part of this application, Figure 1 is a view of a door mounted on a partition and having applied thereto devices embodying this invention, portions of the door and partition being broken away. Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the electricallyoperated devices in one position, and Fig.3

is a similar view of those devices in another position. Fig. A is a side elevation similar to Fig. 1, showing a slight modification in the 4 construction.

Referring to the drawings, a may indicate a partition in which there is a door-opening 6, adapted to be closed by a door 0, mounted upon an inclined track d, the door being provided with rollers to fit said track in the usual manner. The door is held in open position by a cord 0, running over a suitable pulley f on the partition, 'a weight g being attached to one end of the cord, the opposite end being attached to an arm 72 pivotally supported at 11 on the door, the forward end of the arm projecting beyond the edge of the latter into or oppo site the door-opening, preferably near the top of the latter. Between the end of the cord 6 and the end of said arm it is a strip or plate of easily-fusible metal (indicated by j) and forming part of the cord connection. As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the cord 6 is not permanently attached to the end of the arm h,

but is only hooked over the end of it in such manner'that when the arm is permitted to swing backward to the position shown in Fig. 3 the cord will disengage itself from the arm. Preferably the fusible plate 1' is attached to the cord by two wire loops at, one of which is attached to the cord and one end of the fusible plate j and the other to the opposite end 'of the fusible plate and hooked over the end of the arm it, which, as stated, is pivotally supported on the door 6, and on the inner end thereof there is pivotally secured a link a, to

the free end of which is pivotally secured another link, 0, which in turn swings on a pin p, secured to the door.

The links a and 0 are so connected that their extremities, which are pivotally united at q, may be swung around back of the pin 1), and thus draw the short end of the arm A close up to the pin 19, as shown in Fig. 2, thereby bringing the three pivotal points of said links into alinement, whereby the swinging movement of the arm it is rendered impossible so long as this position of the links is maintained. There is mounted on the door an electromagnet 1'', which is provided with an armature 8, connected with an arm t, pivotally supported on the door at a in such position that when the magnet is energized and the armature drawn toward it the arm 5 will be swung on its pivot, its free end striking the ends of the links a and 0, moving the latter far enough to throw the pivotal connection q thereof out of line with the other pivotal points of the links, and thereby permitting the free end of the arm h to be swung back toward the door by the action of the weight g. As heretofore stated, this results in the location of said arm h in the position shown in Fig. 3, whereby the cord 6 is released therefrom, and the door 0, no longer restrained by the weight g, will slide down its inclined track d and close the door-opening 6.

The magnet r is connected by means of wires '0 with a suitable battery, (not shown,) there being in the circuit a switch whereby the circuit may be closed at Will. To provide enough slack wire 1) to permit the closing of the door, said wires in cable form are taken over two pulleys w, between which a Weight w is suspended on the wires heavy enough to just keep them taut during the opening and closing movements of the door.

Where there is more than one door to be fitted with these electrically-operated releasing devices, the magnets r on the various doors are connected in the electrical circuit in series, whereby the closing of the circuit will simultaneously energize all of said mag-- nets, and thus operate to release all of the doors simultaneously.

From the foregoing description it is clear that this construction permits the door-re straining weight g to be released automatically by the rupture of the fuse-plate j in the ordinary manner or at will by the closing of the electrical circuit in which the magnets r are included.

In practice it has been found that in buildings used for certain purposes fire Will run along the floor through the door-openings without suificiently raising the temperature in the vicinity of the fusible plate to rupture the latter, and it has therefore been found necessary to provide means whereby in cases of emergency all the doors of a room or building may be closed at will.

connection with the thermally-actuated releasing device, and the fuse-plate 1' may, if desired, be omitted, the cord being hooked over the end of the arm it directly.

In Fig. 4 is shown a modification of the hereinbefore described construction, which provides for a slightly diiferent arrangement of the parts; but it is one which is entirely operative and one which clearly falls within the scope of the invention. As shown in this modified construction, the electrically-operated releasing device for the, toggle-arms is located on the partition-Wall instead of on the door. In this case these devices are located so that the door-restraining cord 0 or other connection will lead across the door-opening near the top of the latter, the fusible plate 7' in said connection being thus located in substantially the position it occupies in the other figures of the drawings. From the pulley f, over which this cord 6 runs, as usual, it leads in toward the door, on which is located another pulley, y, and from thence to a third pulley a on the wall, from which pulley the end of the cord drops downwardly and has secured to it the weight g. In this construction the elec trically-operated releasing devices and the door-closing weight operate in the same manner as in the construction first described.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1. A self-closing door and means to automatically release the same, comprising a restraining connection to hold the door open, there being a fusible member in said restrain ing connection; a swinging member mounted on the door arranged to constitute, when in one position, an immovable arm to which said door-restraining connection is attached; to gether with means operable from a point away from the door to release said swinging memher from its immovable position to effect the release of said restraining connection.

2. A self-closing door, a restraining connection to hold the door open, there being a fusible member located in said restraining connection; pivotally-united members mounted on the door, movable into toggle relation to constitute, when in one position, an immovable point of attachment for said doorrestraining connection, and means operable from a point away from the door to break the toggle relation of said members to effect the release of the door-restraining connection.

FRANK. M. EDMONDS.

WVitnesses: I

K. I. GLEMoNs, WM. H. CHAPIN. 

